Phantoms lose by largest margin this season

(Emily Paine)

Of The Morning Call

Find out how the Lehigh Valley Phantoms fared against the first-place Hershey Bears

The Hershey Bears turned the PPL Center into Bleak House on a dreary Wednesday night by scoring three power-play goals and another short-handed as Lehigh Valley Phantoms allowed the most goals they've given up all season, home or on the road.

The disappointing 7-2 loss to the Bears in front of 7,433 fans saw the Phantoms take a hit in the AHL's Eastern Conference standings while suffering their largest margin of defeat this season.

"We came out with nothing," Phantoms alternate captain Andrew Gordon said. "We came out with no effort at all. … We came out flat. We didn't work. I don't think a single guy can really look at himself in the mirror and say they worked as hard as they can to try and win the game tonight."

Things started well for the Phantoms (19-15-4-1), who lost at home in regulation for just the fourth time this season. Petr Straka scored 3:15 into the game, but that was the extent of the momentum.

"They took their game to another level," Phantoms third-year head coach Terry Murray said of the Bears. "We became undisciplined, took penalties. We had poor execution from that point on."

It certainly wasn't the way the Phantoms expected to start the second half of the season, with playoff position well within reach.

First place in the East Division was there for the taking before a 5-2 loss at Hershey on Sunday that would have put the Phantoms into a tie for first with the Bears.

Instead, Hershey made the most of the home-and-home series, defeating the Phantoms in the PPL Center for the first time in three games to take a 4-3 lead in the 12-game season series with wins in the last three.

The Phantoms entered the game in third place in the division, 11th overall in the Eastern Conference, and were four points behind the division-leading Bears, just one point behind second-place Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

Murray pointed out how close the teams were just two games ago.

"We've got to recognize the opportunity," he said. "We fumbled the ball big time tonight."

"We made our own bed," Phantoms' forward Brett Hextall said. "They're not much better than us. We gave everything to them. Our discipline I don't think can get any worse than it was. We completely got off our mind-set. We lost focus and that's what happens."

To make the penalty matters worse, Jay Rosehill received his seventh 10-minute misconduct of the season in the second period. Ryan White received one seven seconds into the final period, and alternate captain Zach Stortini received another midway through the third as the Phantoms increased their AHL-high misconduct total to 18 (Hershey is tied for second with 12).

Straka joked earlier in the week about his new sticks, and then scored on his very first shot to put the Phantoms on top 1-0 just 3:15 into the action with a power-play goal.

Straka tallied goal No. 9 on the season by swiping in the rebound of Hextall's shot on Philipp Grubauer from the right corner after Hershey's Tim Kennedy, playing in his 300th career AHL game, went to the penalty box for high sticking.

The lead didn't last long, however, as Hershey scored on three of its next five shots. Casey Williams tied it up at 10:21 off an odd-man rush at the end of a Phantoms power play for his 13th goal of the season.

Hershey continued to look crisp throughout the rest of the evening, cycling the puck almost at will and launching forwards on breakaways.

Stan Galiev put the Bears ahead on his team-leading 14th goal with a power-play goal on a shot from the right circle with 7:44 left in the first period, and Jim O'Brien scored on a short-handed breakaway with 5:20 left in the period. Starting goalie Martin Ouellette, the call-up from Reading who had looked so good in his brief Lehigh Valley appearances, gave up three goals on seven shots and was pulled in favor of fellow rookie Anthony Stolarz, who celebrated his 21st birthday on Tuesday.

Hershey finished 3-for-7 on the power play and the Phantoms were 2-for-11.

The rivalry started heating up at the end of the first period when Phantoms AHL All-Star defenseman Brandon Manning took exception to a crosscheck in the back along the boards from defenseman Steven Oleksy with 31.4 seconds left.

Defenseman Brett Flemming went after Hershey defenseman Erik Burgdoerfer, who had grabbed Nick Cousins' stick to prevent a shot in close on a delayed tripping call against Cameron Schilling with 14 seconds left in the period.

Chris Brown solved Stolarz 4:04 into the second period with a power-play goal on the second shot the goalie faced. Brown scored his 11th of the season, converting from the left circle on a feed from behind the net by Stan Galiev. The Bears picked up the power play on a high-stick call against Rosehill behind the play.

Connor Carrick made it 5-1 on a shot from the high slot during a two-man power play after Austin Fyten got called for a slash after White was low-bridged along the boards, and the Phantoms received a bench minor for unsportsmanlike conduct at 8:15. Less than a minute later, White got called for a two-handed slash to extend the Bears' power play another two minutes.

Newbury scored his 13th of the season with 7:37 left in the second to make it 6-1 on the offensive rush after Taylor Leier got stoned by Grubauer on a short breakaway. The six goals marked the most allowed by the Phantoms at home and tied the previous high allowed this season (at Binghamton on Dec. 31).

Manning added his seventh goal of the season on a power play with 7:49 left in the game.

After a loss like that, the Phantoms were glad they get to play again Friday with a game in Syracuse.

"Playing sports, especially with how many games we have to play, you have to have a short memory," Hextall said, "so fortunately we don't have to wait a full week or anything like that."